more farming done today....

 Got a few more of these little gems done today, I was hoping to get four done, but oh well, it was dinnertime! I love paper-piecing, and these are a lot of fun. I was being a bit of a lazy farmer's wife though, and I've been skipping the freezer paper step of paper piecing, and I paid for it on the "Bat Wing" block, don't look too close to the edges!

 { Block #3 - Basket }

 { Block #4 - Basketweave }

{ Block #5 - Bat Wing }

now, a Farmer's Wife too....

 { Block #1 - Attic Window }

{ Block #2 - Autumn Tints }

So, after watching everyone's pretty little blocks popping up all over Flickr, and my fave blogs, I had to give in and become a Farmer's Wife too! I joined the flickr group and the Yahoo group and got started.

I decided to paper piece all the blocks if I can, much less scary than using templates, and the patterns for those are posted in the Yahoo group. I'm so far behind it isn't funny, but that's okay, they are a lot of fun to make, and I forgot how much I enjoy paper piecing, that I'll just plod on at my own pace, and enjoy the inspiration that everyone else provides. So much fun! ♥

those darn wip's!

I have too many wip's, it's official! Something must be done!

My { pitiful } excuse for this behavior is mostly that I hate basting, but hopefully I have found a solution to this problem - basting spray! I now have all the blocks back from the above quilting bee, they're just waiting to be sewn together and then let the basting begin!

If it works as well I hope it will, the many quilt tops I have laying around will be made into real finished quilts lickety-spit!

I love this particular quilt and I'm so excited to finish it. I love the way the "Tufted Tweets" pops out of the kona coal background, so fun. ♥

I ♥ love

{ images courtesy of WeHeartIt.com }

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?
Are you feeling inspired to make handmade lovelies?

I'm thinking of making pretty paper garlands to decorate, and I always make a handmade card for my sweetie. This post is also about things I love, like Blythe dolls and Alice in Wonderland, constant inspirations.

What do you love? ♥

the art of joy

This months featured Etsyblogger is The Art Of Joy, and what an awesome shop it is!

It is the creative shop of Joy, who lives close to my neck of the woods in the Capital region of Upstate NY. It is full of really lovely stationary just waiting to be personalised, anything from calendars, to invitations, to notecards. My favorite is the kokeshi dolls, but there's something for everybody, check it out!

Joy also has a supercute blog, where you'll find some lovely free printables, I can't recommend it enough, so go see already! ♥

Meet Amelia ♥

Shamefully, I've had her almost a year, but only displayed her out of the box prior to last week! The reason for my hesitancy was my fear of washing her hair! She came to me as an ADG Roaring Red Blythe, who has very tight ringlets piled up on her head, not an everyday look for sure. Last week I read through the 'This is Blythe' forums, and braved it! It went much easier than expected , and worked very well. Her hair is long and a little wild, but I'll brave cutting it later I think!
Yesterday, she braved the snow outside, but decided that she'd really rather be quilting, haha!

Have a wonderful weekend! ♥

{ holiday traditions }

{ building snowmen }

{ putting out favorite decorations }

{ mixing handmade and bought treasures }

{ wreath, birds and jingle bells }

{ the best tradition of all, decorating the Christmas tree }

There's nothing like the tradition of decorating the house and tree in preparation for the holiday, especially with small children, their joy and delight is a pleasure to watch. We got our tree yesterday, and tonight we will be getting out all the familiar ornaments from years past to trim it with. Another tradition is receiving a new ornament each on Christmas morning that can then be added to the tree, fun indeed to see what Santa brings.

Here's to the Holidays, whichever one you celebrate, it certainly is a magical time of year! ♥

It's my turn again, woohoo!

It's my month in a quilting bee, and it's soooo exciting! It'll be like Christmas all month long, watching the lovely members of the Bee-Stitched quilting bee posting my blocks. I decided on a simple, but lovely, nine-patch half-square triangle block, using kona espresso as my background, and the lovely Innocent Crush in Petal palette from Anna Maria Horner's latest line.

I'll post another picture when I've got them all back. It's going to be a huge quilt, for my hubby and I's bed, the first one I'll have made that size! I may have to pay to get it quilted, we'll see.

I'm also making two more quilts, one for each of my sweeties. My son's is also a half-square triangle quilt, in kona ash and various green prints, and is looking lovely so far. My daughter's is going to be a pink and orange fairytale quilt, but haven't yet decided on the perfect block.

Happy Sewing! ♥

Scrappy Mug Rug rec'd!

Rec'd my holiday time mug rug from the lovely Anita {aka - rhubarbpatch}, along with yummy fabric and holiday tea, and how cute is the postcard she sent too, lucky me!

The scrappy mug rug swap on flickr is such a fun swap, you get to use up some of your smaller piece scraps to make what is effectively a mini quilt, then you get one back to put your mug on! Got to love that! If you're interested check out the link to the right ----> and sign up for the next one, in the new year. ♥

Featured Etsyblogger for December is...

...Pruitt Hand Crafts!

Congratulations Linda! Not only has Linda got an Etsy shop, but three no less! There's PruittHandCrafts, where you can find "all things fabric and fun", like ornaments, aprons and cup cozies. Then, check out her jewelry, like the pieces featured above, in her second shop, PruittDesign. And, then last, but not least, is PruittSupply, a shop absolutely chock-a-block with all the supplies you could need, like paper, beads, yo-yo's and fabric, a treasure trove indeed.

Linda is a lovely and supportive member of this team. She lives in the very creative Portland, Oregon, and is a breast cancer survivor, and a Grandmother to an amazing 24 grandchildren. An amazing lady indeed! So go check out her shops and then her blog and stay awhile. ♥

Handmade Holidays ♥

{ handmade ornaments }
These were great fun to make! I sent these out as part of the Trim the Tree handmade ornament swap on Flickr! I found the great pattern in one of Tilda's lovely holiday books! ♥

{holiday mug rug}

This was sent out to my partner in the Scrappy Mug Rug 2 swap. She loves hexies, as do I, so I thought a little holiday hexie flower was called for! I also added one of the ornaments, I hope she likes her goodies!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! ♥

November's Featured Etsyblogger is....

....Devine Designs Jewelry!

Congratulations! A whole month of lovely, and deserved, admiration from the rest of the Etsyblogger's.

Devine is from Florida, and fave place to be would be on a "desert island with a cool breeze, sitting under a palm tree on a soft cool sandy beach watching the beautiful colors of the sun as it sets and turns to nightfall." Sounds idyllic doesn't it?

In her daily life though, she happens to make beautiful, and unique, wire jewelry. My faves are the copper, but there are silver pieces also, check out her shop to see them all, still can't decide? Don't worry there are gift cards too, available in the shop as well.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend! ♥

holiday potholders sent!

{ the total package }

{ the cute owl ornament }

{ one of the bear claw holiday potholders }

I had so much fun , as always, with this swap, Potholder Pass 5. It is the holiday themed version of this ongoing swap, so we also had to send along an ornament with our usual two potholders.
I was a little afraid of making such small bear claws, but using the Eleanor Burns method made it a lot easier. The colors were chosen by my partner, but happen to also be my absolute faves for this season, I'm feeling the red and white, and sometimes linen, of a Scandinavian Christmas.

It was hard to part with my little owl too. I have admired this particular Saffron Craig fabric from afar for a while, until another wonderful swap partner made me a mug rug using it, and sent me an extra owl along with it. But it went so cutely with the color theme, and the potholders. Such a fun swap, and now onto the next one! ♥